Thursday, June 24, 2010

Time to Get Better


Back in January, while emptying the car, I slipped. In "catching" myself, I heard a pop and there was pain in my right shoulder. I iced the shoulder, took some ibuprophen and took it easy. I was sore for about a week and a half, but my shoulder seemed to be fine.

Well, off and on over the next few months, I would have pain in the shoulder. I would either ice it or rest on a heating pad. It always seemed to go away. If I were a Barbie doll, I would describe the pain as being in that universal joint where her arm attaches to her shoulder.

Over Memorial Day, I was picking up kitty litter off the grocery shelf and putting it in my cart and there was a very painful twinge in my shoulder. Now, I know all about using your knees to lift and I was using both hands but the pain almost took my breath away. For the whole weekend, I favored my right arm, sleeping with a heating pad, taking ibuprophen and massaging Ben Gay into the arm. By the Wednesday after Memorial Day, the shoulder didn't hurt anymore.

Then, this past weekend was the Illinois St. Andrew Society's Highland Games. I loaded up the Jeep with my tent and all my stuff, unloaded it at the games, loaded it onto a cart to be ferried to the clan area, unloaded the cart, set everything up, took it down, loaded it back into the Jeep and then unloaded the Jeep into the house. By Sunday evening, I was very sore. Monday, I applied Ben Gay and took ibuprophen. This time, the ache and pain didn't go away. I guess it's time to deal with it.

The thing is, I know I should have gone to see the doctor earlier, but when you have very little money, it comes down to gas to get to work or doctor. I chose the gas. My doctor is very good about not wagging his finger at me. I have lost 15 pounds, probably not just from the stress of worrying about money but also because I'm eating better. He listened to my tale and then did a range of motion with my right arm. The only time it hurt was bending the arm unnaturally backwards. "It doesn't bend that way!" I said. He laughed. I've really never had a problem with the range of motion of my arm. It just hurts.

He believes the muscle is inflamed. He doesn't believe I tore anything or, if I did, it was such a small tear, it healed on its own. I have been given an anti-inflammatory to take for 30 days. I have to take it in the morning and with food. I will have to go grocery shopping today as I am out of cereal. I took the first one today and have a noticeable easing of the pain in the shoulder. I'm still sore in more than one spot, but this is very encouraging. I had to have an x-ray even thought an x-ray isn't going to show anything. My doctor said insurance companies won't authorize an MRI even though they know muscles won't show up on x-rays. But, he is hopeful that a weekend of the drug will ease my symptoms and I'll be all better after one month on it.

He did tell me not to be "overdoing" it. Hmmmm, I bet I can't get my insurance to pay for a month's vacation by a pool somewhere.

Beverage: Huckleberry tea

Deb

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